Nova Patents
US7424397B2

General purpose performance counter

Summary by NHIP

General Purpose Performance Counter

The general purpose performance counter connects to a debug data bus and uses an AND/OR circuit to control a counter and a compare circuit. The AND/OR circuit activates an increment signal when operating in OR mode if one or more selected bits are set, or in AND mode if all selected bits are set.

Claim Score by NHIP

Read claim 1, the broadest

Abstract

In one embodiment, the invention is directed to a general purpose performance counter (“GPPC”) connected to a bus carrying debug data. The GPPC includes an AND/OR circuit connected to receive the debug data; a counter circuit connected to receive from the AND/OR circuit an increment signal that, when activated, causes the counter circuit to increment a count; and a compare circuit for activating a match/threshold signal to the AND/OR circuit responsive to a selected block of the debug data having a first relationship to a compare value, wherein the AND/OR circuit activates the increment signal responsive to a selected combination of bits of an events signal being set.

US7424397B2, drawing sheet 1
Sheet 1 of 4

Term

Term ended

Expired 14 April 2026, 0.4 years ago.

  1. Priority
  2. Filed
  3. Granted
  4. Expired
  5. Today

32 claims: 3 independent, 29 dependent

  1. 1
    Broadest claimClaim Score 55, average(NHIP)A general purpose performance counter (“GPPC”) connected to a bus carrying debug data, the GPPC comprising:an AND/OR circuit connected to receive an events signal that comprises the debug data;a counter circuit connected to receive from the AND/OR circuit an increment signal that, when activated, causes the counter circuit to increment a current count value;and a compare circuit for activating a match/threshold signal to the AND/OR circuit responsive to a selected block of the debug data having a designated relationship to a compare value;wherein, when the AND/OR circuit is operating in OR mode, the AND/OR circuit activates the increment signal responsive to one or more selected bits of the events signal being set and when the AND/OR circuit is operating in AND mode, the AND/OR circuit activates the increment signal when all of the selected bits of the events signal are set.
  2. 15
    A general purpose performance counter (“GFFC”) connected to a bus carrying debug data, the GPPC comprising:an AND/OR circuit connected to receive an events signal that comprises a match/threshold signal and the debug data;a counter circuit connected to receive from the AND/OR circuit an increment signal that, when activated while the counter circuit is enabled, causes the counter circuit to increment a count value;and a compare circuit for activating a match/threshold signal to the AND/OR circuit responsive to a selected block of the debug data having a designated relationship to a compare value, wherein when the AND/OR circuit is in AND mode, the AND/OR circuit activates the increment signal if all of one or more selected bits of the events signal are set and when the AND/OR circuit is in OR mode, the AND/OR circuit activates the increment signal if at least one of the selected bits of the events signal is set.
  3. 25
    A method of implementing a general purpose performance counter (“GPPC”) connected to a bus carrying debug data, the method comprising:providing an AND/OR circuit connected to receive an events signal that comprises the debug data;providing a counter circuit connected to receive from the AND/OR circuit an increment signal that, when activated, causes the counter circuit to increment a count;and providing a compare circuit for activating a match/threshold signal to the AND/OR circuit responsive to a selected block of the debug data having a designated relationship to a compare value;and in a first mode, activating the increment signal by the AND/OR circuit responsive to one or more selected bits of the events signal being set and in a second mode, activating the increment signal by the AND/OR circuit responsive to all of the one or more selected bits of the events signal being set.